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      05-21-2019, 04:02 PM   #45
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Greenville, SC is worth considering. I moved here from Portland, OR after moving there from OC where I grew up. All within less than 5 hours Greenville has pretty much the same track access as ATL:

Road Atlanta - 1.5 hours
VIR - 4 hours
Atlanta Motorsports Park - 2.5 hours
Roebling Road - 4 hours
Carolina Motorsports Park - 2.5 hours
Barber 4.5 - hours

There is more if you are willing to expand outside of a 5 hour drive. Plus we have a kick ass BMW scene here with the Performance Center, BMW Manufacturing, and the BMW CCA Foundation all in our backyard. Our BMW CCA club also gets to use the huge wet skid pad at the Michelin Proving Grounds just south of Greenville several times a year which is always a lot of fun. And… the cost of living here versus the west coast is almost unbelievably low. But, property values are increasing since Greenville is growing so much, so it is a great time to invest in a home/property. The only thing that gets me is the freakin humidity in the summer… it makes it feel so hot… I pretty much just live at the pool from June-Sept lol.
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      05-21-2019, 04:03 PM   #46
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I forgot to mention a big one - I haven't ran it yet but everybody raves about it. Pitt Race.
I love Pitt Race, such a fun track!
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      05-21-2019, 09:01 PM   #47
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Chris, You looking at this all wrong. You need two places. The first is in Nurburg. Second.......who cares.
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      05-22-2019, 02:20 PM   #48
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Dammit we were supposed to do a track day together while you were in the East!!!

Talk to my political appointee bosses who decided to move a bunch of us out to the field sites. I was moved out in October 2018...

And I forgot to include Miller Motorsports Park (or whatever it's called now) up near SLC. Great track and facility.
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      05-23-2019, 10:57 AM   #49
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The availability of a truly local track is underrated IMO. I wouldn't want to live in a metro without one, even a crappy one, if I were choosing based on track availability. The occasional ability to just drop in on the track withuot it being a big weekend trip is wonderful. t.

Here in STL, I can knock off work early on a tuesday and and do three sessions in an afternoon if I feel like it. That's why Hotlanta is high up the list for me (for fair weather locations) and Dallas, Austin and Houston would be as well (MSR's, COTA) even though the distance to other tracks migth be worse (ATL isn't too bad, but Houston and Dallas and Austin are in TX where everything is far away from everything else)
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      05-24-2019, 09:16 AM   #50
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Houston and Dallas and Austin are in TX where everything is far away from everything else

I don't entirely agree with this. Dallas, Houston, and Austin are all within 4 hours of each other.

If you are saying that this trifecta of cities is not near anything else, you're mostly correct.
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      05-24-2019, 11:57 AM   #51
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Quote:
Originally Posted by PrimeBMW View Post
Chris, You looking at this all wrong. You need two places. The first is in Nurburg. Second.......who cares.
If I win the lottery, totally doing this :P
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      05-24-2019, 12:15 PM   #52
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Originally Posted by admranger View Post
Vegas. Spring Mountain and it's multiple configurations, plus the road course outside the speedway.

Easy (sometimes) drive to Willow Springs, Auto Club speedway, Buttonwillow, the the Phoenix area tracks. Longer, but doable in a day drive to Laguna, Sears Point, Thunderhill. Done them all.

No state income tax. Reasonable property taxes. Decent prices for housing (it peaked earlier last year and has come down a bit since then). An international airport plus gobs and gobs of entertainment. 2-pro teams (soon...). A very nice performing arts center. Medical isn't as good as LA or Dallas, but it's decent for all but the most esoteric of issues.

I lived there for 26 years and now I'm moving back for retirement. Just put the $ down on a new build house.
THIS. If you don't have a commute to make, all the conveniences are available from the Las Vegas area and housing is relatively cheap. Plus you're in range for a few Arizona tracks besides the few So. Cal tracks that's within a 2-3 hour drive.

Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Spring Mountain Motorsport Ranch
Chuckwalla Valley Raceway
Thermal Club
Auto Club Speedway
Willow Springs/Streets of Willow
Buttonwillow Raceway

And while we can all joke about the heat, it REALLY is a dry heat. I've been there a few times in July and it's hot, but not intolerable. I wouldn't track during the July-September time frame due to the extreme heat and the stress it puts on the body and car, but outside of that? All the tracks locally are open 12 months a year.
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      05-24-2019, 01:52 PM   #53
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Quote:
Originally Posted by The HACK View Post
THIS. If you don't have a commute to make, all the conveniences are available from the Las Vegas area and housing is relatively cheap. Plus you're in range for a few Arizona tracks besides the few So. Cal tracks that's within a 2-3 hour drive.

Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Spring Mountain Motorsport Ranch
Chuckwalla Valley Raceway
Thermal Club
Auto Club Speedway
Willow Springs/Streets of Willow
Buttonwillow Raceway

And while we can all joke about the heat, it REALLY is a dry heat. I've been there a few times in July and it's hot, but not intolerable. I wouldn't track during the July-September time frame due to the extreme heat and the stress it puts on the body and car, but outside of that? All the tracks locally are open 12 months a year.
Honest question: How much elevation change do any of those courses have? Looking at pictures online, they all seem kinda flat.
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      05-24-2019, 02:44 PM   #54
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Honest question: How much elevation change do any of those courses have? Looking at pictures online, they all seem kinda flat.
The only one with significant elevation change(s) is Willow Springs/Streets of Willow.

On the West coast, you want elevation changes you’ll have to go to the NorCal tracks, Laguna, Thunderhill, and Sears all have some real elevation changes. Those tracks are a full day’s drive from So Cal and probably just as far from Las Vegas, but it’s worth it.
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      05-24-2019, 09:56 PM   #55
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Quote:
Originally Posted by The HACK View Post

And while we can all joke about the heat, it REALLY is a dry heat. I've been there a few times in July and it's hot, but not intolerable. I wouldn't track during the July-September time frame due to the extreme heat and the stress it puts on the body and car, but outside of that? All the tracks locally are open 12 months a year.
Pppfffftttttt...I raced in August at the LVMS (pre-banking changes) including a 3-hour enduro with co-drivers Monty Sidhu (RIP) and Ralph Warren. I pulled the last stint and when we ended at midnight, the air temp was 100 deg f (and it felt cool). Pre-cool shirt as well.
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      05-24-2019, 10:38 PM   #56
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Buy some land in the middle of po dunk no-where not in California and build your own track.. call it "field of beams".. if you build it, they will come..
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      05-25-2019, 12:02 AM   #57
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris_PDX View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by PrimeBMW View Post
Chris, You looking at this all wrong. You need two places. The first is in Nurburg. Second.......who cares.
If I win the lottery, totally doing this :P
I buy the place and all my friends pay rent!!
*some of you a-holes are not invited! 🤣
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      05-28-2019, 11:58 AM   #58
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Quote:
Originally Posted by The HACK View Post
The only one with significant elevation change(s) is Willow Springs/Streets of Willow.

On the West coast, you want elevation changes you’ll have to go to the NorCal tracks, Laguna, Thunderhill, and Sears all have some real elevation changes. Those tracks are a full day’s drive from So Cal and probably just as far from Las Vegas, but it’s worth it.
Or in the PNW, the Ridge and Oregon Raceway Park have a lot of elevation changes.

ORP is like a skate park on steroids.
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      05-28-2019, 11:59 AM   #59
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I buy the place and all my friends pay rent!!
*some of you a-holes are not invited! 🤣
Do I pass the asshole test? :P
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      05-28-2019, 12:28 PM   #60
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Midwestern tracks are shit for elevation change. Road America is really the only one with anything substantial, and it's limited to the straight sections. Grattan has a little bit of elevation but it's such a technical track that it feels like they just did the elevation to make the whole track feel like "hard mode". I drove it once, years ago, in my S2000 and have very little desire to go back.

I can't say Texas is really any better. COTA of course has the hilarious huge uphill at the end of the main straight, but is otherwise pretty much flat. MSR Cresson has a little bit of elevation change but not enough for me to classify it as more difficult as a result.
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      05-28-2019, 01:47 PM   #61
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I guess we're lucky and spoiled around here to have tracks with good elevation changes. I feel like it makes the tracks that much "more".
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      05-28-2019, 04:45 PM   #62
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Quote:
Originally Posted by admranger View Post
Pppfffftttttt...I raced in August at the LVMS (pre-banking changes) including a 3-hour enduro with co-drivers Monty Sidhu (RIP) and Ralph Warren. I pulled the last stint and when we ended at midnight, the air temp was 100 deg f (and it felt cool). Pre-cool shirt as well.
That's freakin' nuts. That is heat stroke territory. Maybe that explains something...

Quote:
Originally Posted by dparm View Post
Midwestern tracks are shit for elevation change. Road America is really the only one with anything substantial, and it's limited to the straight sections. Grattan has a little bit of elevation but it's such a technical track that it feels like they just did the elevation to make the whole track feel like "hard mode". I drove it once, years ago, in my S2000 and have very little desire to go back.
Real elevation changes require locations near foot-hills...And those are typically more expensive land/real-estate unless it's in no man's land. And the more expensive the land and real-estate, the more rich and powerful home owners tend to complain about noise with a track near-by.

I used to work near Fontana, across the 15 from where Auto Club Speedway is, and you'll know it when the NASCAR teams come to test, because, even with the natural sound barrier that is a major 8 lane freeway, you can hear it in a double insulated window office room. Imagine if you live anywhere within 1/2 mile of the track...

Luckily Fontana isn't the most desirable of Southern California real-estate zip codes.
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      05-28-2019, 06:22 PM   #63
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I don't entirely agree with this. Dallas, Houston, and Austin are all within 4 hours of each other.

If you are saying that this trifecta of cities is not near anything else, you're mostly correct.
Within 8-10 hours my Lemons team is planning on taking out car to Colorado and Kansas. Tulsa OK isn’t too far either
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